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2026 Supercross Round 10 Birmingham East West Showdown 250 East Qualifier 2
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00:00Eastern Division qualifier number two for the number 10, number 30, number 37.
00:06Seth Hamaker on the Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki was fastest in Q1 with a 51.5.
00:12The only 250 rider in the 51s, he did a fast qualifier time, 51.5, and his backup time AC
00:19was a 51.7.
00:20Yeah, he's on it. He's on it today, JB.
00:22And this start, like you mentioned in that first practice, this start is so important for these showdown guys tonight.
00:30Even getting off the gate good here in practice will go a long way in calming your nerves going into
00:37the night show.
00:37And it looks like, is that Nate Thrasher sighting?
00:40Nate Thrasher with a significant practice hole shot there for the 25.
00:45Wow, 250 East qualifier number two here today refueled by Amazon.
00:49And that's what we expect from Nate Thrasher, but it hasn't really been any of that to start 2026.
00:55But we know this guy has won a race every year since he's been a professional.
01:00So you've got to think that it's coming.
01:02I think he was struggling with a bit of a shoulder injury maybe coming into the season.
01:07He kind of alluded that to me at Indianapolis, talking to him a little bit,
01:12but not the year that Nate Thrasher has won it.
01:15And we talk about it all the time at Star Racing.
01:17If you're not the guy, if you're not showing improvement, if you're not winning races and on the podium,
01:23you have a very short shelf life at this team.
01:26So for Nate Thrasher, I bet he's feeling some heat to get it back going in the right direction.
01:30Well, you know he's got some good vibes here in Birmingham.
01:33He won here just one year ago, 2025 winner here.
01:36We had a triple crown format.
01:38Nate Thrasher was able to get it done.
01:40So it wouldn't surprise anybody, probably not any of you folks at home either,
01:44if Nate Thrasher gets the win here today.
01:45No, he, I mean, at his best, at his best, Nate Thrasher is pretty much as good as anybody.
01:51So for him, a lot of emphasis on getting a good result, and especially in a showdown.
01:56If you can come out here, have a good result, put it on a podium in a showdown,
02:00that would go a long way just for his confidence and to get him back going in the right direction.
02:05Because he's just, sometimes when you're not having the results that you want,
02:11it's just a lot of frustration you're carrying into each week,
02:14and then it's difficult to perform from that place.
02:17Cole Davies, teammate of Nate Thrasher, one-point lead here in the Eastern Division Championship.
02:23Cole Davies earlier today, fourth fastest on the East.
02:28This is probably not really what you come to expect from Cole Davies,
02:31but, you know, when he drops the gate, we talk a lot about his, just his speed around the attack.
02:36We talked about it with James Stewart earlier on the show.
02:39He does so many things very, very well, but then at the end of the practice,
02:43it's Seth Hamaker on top or Pierce Brown on top.
02:47But then he does things like that, and we wonder, well, where is he losing time at?
02:50Yeah, it is difficult, and that's why I asked James.
02:54James has such a good eye for these things.
02:57He often spots technical things guys are doing in such a great way,
03:03but he has been a little bit slower on the rest of the track from Seth Hamaker and Joe Shimoda,
03:09and so he's got to figure that out because he's not always going to have a technical big set of
03:14whoops
03:14to kind of bail him out of that situation.
03:16But Cole Davies, with the talent that he has, there's no doubt that he's going to figure it out.
03:23But these guys, Joe Shimoda, Seth Hamaker, they've been so good in their corners to start the year.
03:29I think that's where they're making up most of their time.
03:30Well, remember to start the season number 30 on the Honda HRC Progressive team.
03:35He was kind of a TBD on if he'd even be at round one, had a few days on the
03:39Supercross track
03:40and just wanted to kind of get through it.
03:42He nearly wins round one.
03:43He gets second, but he's in this championship fight, in this battle with the other three guys.
03:49You have Cole Davies, you have Seth Hamaker, and Pierce Brown.
03:53This is right where Joe needs to be.
03:55He's within two points of this championship.
03:57Oh, if you told Joe coming into this season, you showed him the point situation
04:02and his finishes through the first few East Division races, he would take that all day long.
04:08It's been an unbelievable comeback for Joe.
04:11And just talking to him a little bit yesterday, he's not one to blame the motorcycle, complain about the bike.
04:17But there are some things on the bike they were able to get quite a bit better.
04:21Some areas he was uncomfortable, felt like he was being held back a little bit.
04:25So we'll see, we're probably not going to see in practice, not really his thing,
04:29but we'll see if those changes kind of allow him to put it together this evening.
04:34We're talking about Joe Shimoda second at round one.
04:36This was your winner, Pierce Brown, Monster Energy, Yamaha star racing team.
04:40He comes out, didn't really know what to expect.
04:43We knew Pierce would have some speed, but for him to win round one, that was really, really impressive here
04:48today.
04:48So far, he's fourth fastest, but overall, he's second fastest.
04:52So in this qualifying session, 53.5.
04:55And do you notice, I know you do, because we were talking about it yesterday,
04:58but he runs a really low back end, it looks like to me,
05:02which typically would set you up to be really good in the whoops, down rhythm lanes and things like that.
05:07But sometimes when you lower the back, you lose a little bit of that front end traction in the middle
05:12part of the turn.
05:13And with this track being a little bit tighter, a smaller set of whoops,
05:17I'm interested to see how that setup will translate to this track as it shapes up in the main event.
05:23How about Daxton Benick fastest in this session so far, 52.6.
05:27That is impressive.
05:29How about the Husqvarna teammates, Ryder D fast on the west, Daxton Benick fast on the east.
05:34They might have something figured out here on this Birmingham track.
05:36Yeah, the Husqvarna team is absolutely on the come up.
05:40And I love the two guys that they have, Benick and Ryder D.
05:43To me, there's a lot of untapped potential with those two guys.
05:46We talk about their amateur careers all the time.
05:49See Seth Hammacher.
05:51That's the tough part.
05:52And that's kind of the risk you run trying to get to that inside before the start straight.
05:56The rut is pretty loose and very shallow.
06:00So you have to be so patient coming into the rut to make sure both your tires are completely in
06:06the rut before you get on the gas.
06:08You've seen some guys make little mistakes there.
06:10So if it's me, I'm going outside, brake sliding it all day long.
06:13Well, I don't think we've seen anything there except for mistakes.
06:16I don't think we've seen a lot of people try it.
06:18We've yet to see someone actually really get in that rut, double to the inside and get that.
06:23And if you are able to do it, it's got to be two or three tenths if you nail it.
06:26Yeah, no doubt.
06:27No doubt about it.
06:28I think it comes down to doing a line and practicing the line in qualifying that you know you can
06:34do lap after lap in the main event.
06:37So sometimes it's a little trial and error in these practices.
06:40But I do think they're going to put a little more water on it, probably track it with a tractor
06:45a bit, with a dozer.
06:46There might be a little bit of a deeper rut come this evening.
06:50Don't you think tonight the track's just going to be epic?
06:53The sun's going to go down a little bit.
06:54I've mentioned it a couple times.
06:55But it's over 80 degrees and sunny out here, which makes it difficult to keep the moisture in the ground.
07:00As Schock tries to go inside, he makes a little mistake as well.
07:04But tonight this track's going to be great.
07:05It is.
07:06And I talked to Cody Schock in Indianapolis and asked him how he was feeling to start the year.
07:11See Joe Shimoda doing a little side panel slap there.
07:15I wonder what that was about.
07:16But Cody told me that he thinks he's been – he almost wants it too bad.
07:21He's been trying too hard.
07:22He likes where he's at during the week.
07:24He thinks he's better than he was last year.
07:26But just trying a little bit too hard on the weekend.
07:29So Cody Schock, talking to untapped potential, I think there's more there for him.
07:34Absolutely.
07:34Now we've – this is the overall times on the left side of your screen.
07:37And this man is fastest overall with a 51.5.
07:41Only 250 rider in the 51s.
07:43Next best was on the west with Levi Kitchen.
07:45That came from Q1, 52.1.
07:47Let's see if Seth can get this inside.
07:50He gets it pretty good.
07:51He does.
07:51And you saw that back in, starting to step out.
07:53He pulled the clutch in, got it back going.
07:56And Seth, this is a – I think this is a great track for him because he's kind of a
08:01bulldog.
08:02He's kind of a bulldog.
08:03He does a lot of things well in a lot of different conditions on a track like this that doesn't
08:09flow really well.
08:10I think that's playing into Seth's what he does well on the motorcycle.
08:14I could put this on repeat.
08:17Watson, that number 37.
08:18Oh.
08:18Cole Davies, go through the whoops.
08:20Just put it on repeat, AC.
08:22It really is unbelievable.
08:24We taught – you guys are probably tired of us talking about it all the time.
08:27But as two guys that have been there and done it before, JB, you were great in the whoops.
08:31And I had my years where I was pretty good.
08:34But especially for a young rider, it's – young riders struggle in the whoops.
08:38That's a known thing.
08:39And for him to be one of the best we've ever seen already in year two as an 18-year
08:45-old, pretty unbelievable.
08:47Cole Davies, fifth fastest overall, the 52.7, 1.2 off of Seth Hamaker out front.
08:53There you see the ruts in between the rhythm lanes right here.
08:56Track deteriorating fairly quick here.
08:58Watch this whoop speed right now.
09:00This entry speed is on top, very top.
09:02The first three or four whoops, that sets him up all the way through.
09:04And any time you're going all the way around the top of the turn like Cole Davies did before the
09:09whoops,
09:09you have to be fast in the whoops.
09:11Because the guys that are jumping through, we saw Seth on screen.
09:14They're cutting off so much track going inside.
09:16So he is losing just a little bit in that corner before.
09:19Let's see what that time was.
09:2152.7 is his fastest.
09:23That last lap around was a 53.6.
09:26So track definitely going away.
09:29Joe Shimoda on your screen.
09:31Shimoda's eighth right now.
09:32And look, we talked about it in Q1.
09:34Shimoda not known for qualifying.
09:36Zero fast qualifiers in his career.
09:39But that doesn't matter.
09:40That is a crazy stat.
09:41You would think he would have qualified fast.
09:43With the ability of Joe Shimoda, you'd think he would have qualified fastest by accident at least once or twice.
09:49Absolutely.
09:50This man fastest so far here today.
09:5251.5.
09:54And you just think about how great Seth Hamaker was here last year.
09:58I mentioned Nate Thrasher getting the win.
10:01But Hamaker was very fast.
10:02He went down in race one as a triple crown here last year.
10:06But then he goes 1-1 in race two and race three.
10:08Very, very fast here.
10:10Going down on lap one in that race number one last year.
10:13How about this, man?
10:14Devin Simonson.
10:14You talk about a career year, a career day a couple weeks ago in Indianapolis.
10:18You talked about it.
10:20That was one of your storylines.
10:21This man, the 89th, sixth in Indy just a couple weeks ago.
10:25And you've been to Club MX quite a bit.
10:27You go there during the week.
10:28You ride sometimes.
10:29And you've been telling me for a long time that this guy is unbelievable.
10:33He's got it.
10:33During the week in practice.
10:35And he's really starting to make a name for himself.
10:37I love this program he's on with Club MX.
10:39They clearly have a lot of belief in him.
10:41And after running up front like that in Indianapolis, your hometown race,
10:46it's got to feel a little bit more like he's playing with house money right now.
10:49There's no doubt the team is stoked on the development where he's at so far.
10:53And he could be a podium guy in the future.
10:58Love to see what the Club MX Yamaha team is doing.
11:00And they're taking guys like Devin Simonson and taking them from outside the top ten
11:05and getting them inside the top ten and potentially even inside the top five.
11:10And then you think about a guy like Cody Schock even on the podium.
11:12He got second in Arlington one year ago.
11:15So great job of that Club MX Yamaha team.
11:17The 163 Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha team second right now in this qualifying session, 52.4.
11:25I look for Pierce to have a good night tonight.
11:27How about Seth Hammacher's lap time in this session?
11:30Not overall, 52.527.
11:34You know what his second-best time is?
11:37A 52.527.
11:40Wow.
11:41The same exact lap time twice.
11:43Seth Hammacher is feeling it, folks.
11:45Think he's consistent or no?
11:47It appears to be that way, Jamie.
11:50Pierce Brown throwing down another fast lap.
11:53I love these East-West showdowns.
11:54Look, I mentioned you've won three of them.
11:56And it has to feel extra special at the end of the night
11:59knowing that you're the best 250 rider there is.
12:03East-West doesn't matter.
12:04I always loved you can look at it like it's a burden.
12:09Because you want to...
12:10The goal is the championship in your division.
12:14But in order to do that, you have to be great.
12:17You have to be great in these showdowns.
12:19And I always try to look at it like an opportunity.
12:21I want it to be the best guy in the world in the 250 class.
12:27And if you win these showdowns, at least for one night,
12:29you can say that you're the best 250 rider in the world.
12:33Wow.
12:33How about that line right there from Daxton Bennett going quad out that whoop section?
12:38Could be a good night for Bennett.
12:39He's fast today, 52.6.
12:41And I'm really curious what these Husqvarna's have going here today
12:44because Rider D was very fast as well.
12:46You wonder if they did some work during the off week,
12:48if they maybe made some bike changes.
12:50It's a very balanced motorcycle to the naked eye to me.
12:54It doesn't look too low in the front, too low in the back, too high.
12:58And I really think their strength is the middle of the turns
13:01and the front end feel in the middle of the turns.
13:03That's kind of an Austrian brand thing.
13:06We think about the front end traction of like Eli Tomac
13:09talking about how planted the bike was at Anaheim 1.
13:12But Husqvarna's got it going on.
13:14I like this racetrack for that team.
13:16Absolutely.
13:16Seth Hamaker, he's got it going on as well.
13:1951.5.
13:20And look at the second best time.
13:22Ricky Carmichael always talks about the second best time.
13:25You really got to pay attention to that.
13:26Seth Hamaker faster than anyone, even on his second fastest lap.
13:29Pierce Brown second.
13:30Daxton Bennett looking really, really strong here today.
13:32Jalik Swole from that time in Q1 earlier today.
13:35He's feeling good.
13:36And Cole Davies, you can never count him out.
13:38He's a championship points leader here on the East.
13:41Let's catch up with Seth Hamaker when we come back from this short break.
13:43And 450 Q2 coming up next.